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Lunch At Dosa Plaza In Preston

HEADS UP: a couple of years ago there were dishes at Dosa Plaza being marked vegan, or staff insisting were vegan, but contained dairy. There were apparently some serious incidents involving allergy. I wasn’t aware of this when I hit publish ten minutes ago but have done a quick search in a Facebook group now. I did ask the Dosa Plaza staff to confirm vegan items and honestly, from the food I ate it didn’t seem not-vegan. It is possible that in the last two years, Dosa Plaza have taken more care with vegan foods. I hope this is the case… I have just learned that lentil balls/donuts often contain cheese and I ordered these (shown below) as they were marked vegan and I was told they’re vegan and don’t contain dairy. But I can’t offer any confident confirmation at this point.

I love dosa so it’s a bit embarrassing that I’ve only just been to Dosa Plaza in Preston, despite reading about it on Where’s the Beef? blog back in March 2017. I got to choose the Sunday lunch venue for our group of four, so Dosa Plaza it was.

Dosa Plaza is located on the pointy corner of High Street and Plenty Road and we parked in the nearby supermarket carpark. Once inside, we were a little overwhelmed by the menu which has a bajillion options, either vegetarian or clearly marked vegan. There are gluten free options too. The menu itself is an experience and takes a fair bit of time to work through (and exclaim over), with different sections such as Italo (yes, it’s pasta), Mumbai chaat, Tandoor & Curries, Sizzler and more.

The ordering system involves being given a little piece of notepaper to fill in, listing the menu item number and the quantity you want. So, to start with we got a serve of the onion bhaji:

I also chose the Pani puri, which are served with spiced potatoes, tamarind chutney and a mint dressing:

There was also a potato masala dosa on our table, which to our surprise was bigger than we anticipated so I added the fork in to give you an idea of size. Pretty sure the dosa I’ve had to date haven’t been this big!

My sister ordered the Mysore masala dosa (‘dosa stuffed with onion, tomato, capsicum and mint tomato chutney with tempered mashed potatoes’). I screwed up the focus on this photo sorry:

I took a leaf from the Where’s the Beef? book and ordered the spring roll dosa. Yes, this works! It had a really nice stir-fry taste to it. Photo at the top.

Another accompaniment we got was described as deep fried bread which I believe is M14 on the menu, but it doesn’t appear online:

I’m glad I finally tried Dosa Plaza. It’s nothing flash, but the food is good and nobody kicked us out even though we lingered for a bit after lunch (though only a few tables were occupied). We were stuffed, and all enjoyed our meals, two of which were vegetarian and got the nod of approval from those who ordered.

My advice would be to set aside the time to go through the menu. Seriously, if you look at the menu online I’m sure you’ll understand the overwhelm element. Still, it’s also fun looking at the different options such as the fusion dishes (American chop suey!). I believe only one dessert option is vegan, and that’s a sweet dosa, but as there was cake back at home I didn’t order it.

I think Dosa Plaza is definitely worth a return visit, even if only to try the Schezwan Sizzler which you can see on the Where’s the Beef? blog post!

Dosa Plaza are located in a few suburbs as well as Brisbane, Adelaide and New Zealand. Check the website to find what’s closest to you. And check out the menu online too, but be warned there’s a lot of it with little sub-menus!

Welcome!

Hello and welcome! I'm Faye and I blog about vegan life here in Melbourne, Australia. I love connecting readers with news of events, dining options, products, services and anything else that can help people already living, or those considering switching to a more plant based lifestyle. Family, my Greek roots, secondhand shopping and my home town are also a focus on my blog.